Letter: Patient would like to be home

On July 14, Gov. Jay Nixon signed a bill that will allow Missourians suffering from intractable epilepsy to use a non-psychoactive medical cannabis extract (commonly referred to as 'CBD oil') to treat seizures.

An overwhelming and bipartisan majority of our state legislature supported the bill, and its passage was widely celebrated. I, too, share in that celebration for seizure patients and their families that now have access to lifesaving medication for the first time, and I'm thrilled that our elected officials came together to pass this important legislation.

However, it only helps a small group of the people that could benefit from this treatment. I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome at age 11. EDS is a degenerative and debilitating connective tissue disease. My skeleton is held together by my muscles because my tendons and ligaments do not function properly, leading to severe pain, heart problems, frequent joint dislocations and chronic muscle fatigue and weakness.

Since my diagnosis 15 years ago, doctors treated me with opioid painkillers that not only destroyed my kidneys and liver, but also made me nauseated to the point that I could not eat. As my liver and kidneys began to fail in the summer of 2013, I was forced to leave my family, friends and life in Missouri for safe access to the medicine keeping me alive — medical cannabis.

Today, I live in Colorado as a medical cannabis refugee. After just six months replacing opiates with medical marijuana, my liver and kidneys cleared and my weight stabilized.

Missouri's elected officials took a groundbreaking first step toward recognizing the medical properties of cannabis in passing a CBD oil bill last session. It's time now for Missouri to consider building upon that reform and providing seriously ill patients a way to access safe medical cannabis in Missouri, so I can move home.